


How the Horsemen Stole Christmas

by LexLemon



Category: Now You See Me (Movies)
Genre: Christmas, Does this count as a Grinch AU?, Dylan's constant mood is Tired and So Done, Everyone has it out for Daniel because what else is new, Henley's here because I said so, I don't know anything about stocks so that portion is super inaccurate, I just really wanted it to rhyme sometimes, So many Christmas references, Sorry that the rhyming is inconsistent, This starts out as fluff but quickly turns into angst so you've been warned, there's a happy ending don't worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:42:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21929176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LexLemon/pseuds/LexLemon
Summary: When Dylan learns of a corrupt stockbroker stealing other people's money just before Christmas, the Horsemen decide to set things right. But what happens when things don't exactly go as planned?
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16





	How the Horsemen Stole Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Happy holidays, readers! Thanks for checking out this little story of mine. Before we begin, I just wanted to reiterate some apologies I made in the tags.
> 
> First off, sorry that the switches between rhyming exposition and free verse exposition happen so suddenly. I just really wanted to utilize quotes from the original Grinch story somehow, so I thought having it rhyme sometimes would be fun.
> 
> Secondly, I don't know anything about stocks or the stock markets, so I definitely know that the mentions of that system are inaccurate in some way. @The accounting and business majors reading this: I'm very sorry.
> 
> Finally, if you're wondering why Henley is here, I don't like excluding her or Lula in things, so I headcanon that Henley eventually comes back and they change their name to simply being the Horsemen rather than the Four Horsemen.
> 
> If you've made it this far and want to keep reading, then let's begin! Happy reading and happy holidays! :)

Every person in Manhattan liked Christmas a lot, from the oldest elder to the tiniest tot. They waited each year for the 25th of December, where they'd give lots of presents and make memories to remember. They hustled and bustled down every numbered street with a Christmas carol tapping in the rhythm of their feet. There were wreaths and mistletoe hung on lights and windows, giving the Big Apple a green, Christmasy glow. Yes, everyone liked Christmas in the city of Manhattan, even the group of magicians called the Horsemen. 

Several members of the Horsemen were gathered in their Queens hideout, decorating the space for the upcoming season. Henley Reeves stood before a towering Christmas tree in the corner of the room, placing ornaments on its branches as "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" played through a speaker. She hummed along to the song as she picked a red ornament shaped like a ball out of a box by her feet. 

Henley saw an open branch above her and reached up to it, her hand just missing it with each stretch. She tried standing on the balls of her feet, but she still proved to be too short. It wasn't long before a hand placed itself over hers and took the ornament from her. 

Henley looked over to see Merritt McKinney placing the ornament on the branch for her with a smile. She set her feet back on the ground and sighed. 

"You're the best, Merritt." 

"Hey, it's no big deal. I just didn't want you hurting yourself." 

"Well, we definitely can't have that. Not when Christmas is just ten days away!" 

Henley and Merritt let out a cheer that turned into laughter as they bent down to get more ornaments. 

At the other end of the room stood J. Daniel Atlas, whose fingers clasped a wooden dreidel before his face. "Okay, seriously, guys? One dreidel?" he said to the others. "That's all you're going to do for Hanukkah?" 

"Hey, you could have gone out and gotten some Hanukkah decorations for yourself," Henley said. 

Merritt added, "And I thought you said you celebrated Christmas too." 

Daniel sighed. "I do, but you could have at least taken my feelings into account when planning this." 

"Well, given the fact that you never do that for us every other time of year, we thought it was only fair. You know, a little tit for tat." Merritt flashed Daniel a bitter smile then returned to the tree. 

Daniel set the dreidel down with a sigh then leaned against the wall with a glare. You see, Daniel was a man who groused no matter the season. But please don't ask why because no one quite knows the  reason. It could be his head wasn't screwed on just right, or it could be his shoes were simply too tight. But the Horsemen believed that the answer to it all was that Daniel's heart was (quite tragically) three sizes too small. They took advantage of this, though, and made sure that they won in their game of making Daniel miserable. It was really quite fun. 

The door to the hideout then swung open, letting a cold breeze into the room. The Horsemen each let out an annoyed cry at the chill while Merritt yelled, "What the hell?" They looked over to see their two remaining members enter the space, Lula May practically running into the room while Jack Wilder shut the door behind them. 

"¡ _ Feliz Navidad, mis amigos _ !" the former said as she threw her arms up. 

Henley said, "Hey, there you are! We were wondering where you two were." 

"Ah, that's a secret we're not telling," Jack said as he took his coat off and hung it up. 

Lula smiled at her friends and added, "We just did the last of our Christmas shopping." 

"Babe!" 

"What?" 

The Horsemen each let out an "Ooooooh" as they smirked at their friends. 

"I see," Henley said, quickly looking away to return to decorating. 

Lula said, "Yeah, but that's all you're getting out of us. I wouldn't give you a hint even if you held me down and threatened to set my hair on fire." 

"I'm going to forget that you just put that image in my head," Merritt said. "We left a side of the tree for you guys to start decorating."

"Oh, thanks!" Lula and Jack rushed over to the other side of the tree, taking hold of the ornaments remaining in the box. 

Jack looked over at Daniel fiddling with the dreidel and asked, "Hey, Daniel, you helping?" 

"Oh, I already put some up." 

"Yeah, he helped for maybe five minutes," Merritt said. 

"Hey, I put up ornaments on the side of the tree you told me to do. It's not my fault I work fast." 

Henley let out a bitter scoff. "Yeah, in more ways than one." 

The others made a choked laugh at the comment while Daniel looked aghast at his teammate. He opened his mouth to comment but was stopped by the door swinging open once more. 

And who should appear in their festive lair but their fearless leader, who made the others stare. Dylan Shrike stomped inside, tracking snow on the ground, but his most prominent feature was his face set in a frown. Luckily, the Horsemen didn't seem to care, as they were just happy to see him there.

"Dylan!" they all emphatically cried, as it was their signature greeting for him.

Dylan took off his jacket and scarf and hung them up, letting out a grumbled, "Hey, guys." 

"What do you think of the tree?" Henley asked, gesturing to it like a magician's assistant would. 

Dylan gave a quick glance at it. "Oh, it looks great." 

The Horsemen sagged their shoulders and gave each other worried glances. 

"Is everything okay, Dylan?" Jack asked. 

"Yeah, it's just..." Dylan sighed. "People just get on my nerves sometimes, you know?" 

"Trust me. I know." Lula fired a glare at Daniel, making him scoff at her with a baffled look. 

Henley asked, "Well, what's up?" 

Dylan flopped onto the couch at the back of the room and let out a loud sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his forefingers. "Thaddeus just informed me of some asshole who's out to drive me to drink." 

The Horsemen exchanged a glance then moved themselves closer to Dylan, turning all eyes on him. Dylan glanced up at them and couldn't help but smile. No matter how much they all drove him up the wall, Dylan always appreciated their unending loyalty and concern for him. He also knew they weren't going to leave him alone until he came clean, so he might as well start talking. 

"There's this guy, Greg LaRue. He's a really popular stockbroker on Wall Street. He keeps track of a majority of the investments on the market. Yesterday, there was a significant dip in the stock of many major corporations. However, LaRue's report made no mention of this. Thaddeus and I did some digging and we found that LaRue dipped into the stocks, took the money out of them, and funneled them into his own accounts." 

" _ What _ ?!" the Horsemen chorused. Most of their hands flew to the tops of their heads as they babbled their shock over one another.

"That's insane!" Lula said. 

Merritt added, "That's bullshit." 

"He robs millions of people of money they've been investing for...years, probably, and takes it for himself and  _ gets away with it _ ?" Henley asked as her feet paced across the floor. 

Dylan sighed, placing his head in his hand. "I know." 

"And right before Christmas too," Daniel said, crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall. His eyes were cast onto the floor, and he shook his head with a vacant stare. 

(Now I know I said earlier that Daniel's heart was not big, but there is one inside him if you really did dig.) 

Dylan turned to Daniel and made a small wave of his hand. "That's the worst part. I mean, he's really going to do this before Christmas? Could he be any more of an asshole?" He shook his head with a  sigh. "We got to stop this whole thing. I've put up with it for too long now. We got to stop LaRue's scheming." 

"But how?" Lula asked. 

Then, Daniel got an idea. An awful idea. Daniel got a wonderful, awful idea. He brought his head up, turned his lips into a smirk, and prepared to explain the plan he had at work. 

"We rob him back." 

The Horsemen all turned to face Daniel's confident gaze with identical confused glances. 

"We're the Horsemen. We expose people who rob from the less fortunate and give their money back to them. Guys, this is an opportunity falling right into our laps. I'm sure we can cobble a show together in a few days. We set up some acts, make sure LaRue's there, then we do our thing and give everyone their money back. It's simple." 

"Wait, did you just say, 'cobble?'" Lula asked, as if the word was foreign in her mouth. 

Dylan waved a hand at her but kept his eyes on Daniel. "No, no. Atlas has a point here. That's exactly what we're going to do. We put on a special Christmas show and take LaRue down just like that. It'll be a Christmas miracle all around." 

"Alright! The Horsemen are back in business!" Jack said. 

"Well, what are we waiting for, folks?" Merritt asked, rubbing his hands together with a smirk. "Let's whip up some Christmas magic so we can kick some Wall Street ass!" 

The Horsemen all let out a cheer then huddled together to begin coming up with ideas for acts. 

Dylan watched all their plotting and their scheming with glee, excited for the trick that the whole country would see. He was counting the minutes and placing a bet. Oh yes, this would be the Horsemen's greatest show yet.

~

Every ticket was sold in two minutes flat, as everyone wished to see the Horsemen's new act. When three days had passed, people flocked to the stage and waited in their seats. Oh, their joy couldn't be gauged! 

The Horsemen were back! Yes, the rumors were true. They had whipped up a show in time for Christmas too. But little did they know that there was justice due. No, this show wasn't for them. It was for one Greg LaRue. 

Jack poked his head out from behind the curtain, scanning the audience pouring into the auditorium for their guest of honor. His eyes soon found a man with a thick face, graying black hair, and a black suit taking a seat towards the far left. A smirk fell onto his face, bringing him to pull himself back inside and join the others backstage.

"LaRue's here. He just took his seat." 

"Excellent," Dylan said. "Is everyone ready?" 

"I'd say so," Henley said as she twirled a chain around her finger. 

"Great. I'll give the crowd two more minutes to settle in." 

Just then, the jazzy sounds of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" began to play through the area, prompting Merritt to pull out his phone. He tapped on the screen then pressed it to his ear, greeting, "Hey, Daniel." 

"Hey, I just finished hooking up the visuals for the show to the screens. Is everyone backstage already?" 

"Yup. We're just waiting on you." 

"Great. I'm going to head over there and meet you guys now." 

"Thank you for letting me know because that would have kept me up tonight if you hadn't." 

"Okay, do you truly believe that the words that come out of your mouth sound appealing when you talk, or does the little voice in your head convince you that they do?" 

"Goodbye, Daniel." 

Merritt gave the screen another tap then placed his phone back in his pocket. He looked over and found Dylan standing beside him with a baffled look on his face. 

"Is that really your ringtone for him?" he asked. 

Merritt chuckled to himself. "Yeah."

"Blasting it every time he enters the room for the past two weeks isn't enough for you?" 

"Nope." 

Dylan looked to the side and sighed. "You guys are impossible." 

"Okay. I'm here." The Horsemen turned around and saw Daniel running towards them, brushing off the lapels of his black jacket. 

Dylan clapped his hands together. "Great. Are you ready?" 

"Of course I am." 

"Then let's make some magic." 

The group let out a cheer as they let their signature greeting echo through the auditorium, waiting for their cue to step onstage. 

The audience was wowed by the Horsemen's tricks, hoping they'd be needed as a volunteer to be picked. There were card tricks, illusions, and hypnotism too, the last proving to help them win over LaRue. It soon became time for Henley's act to begin. It was the one that ensured this night as their  win. She stood center stage holding handcuffs of gray and began to explain the trick she would display. 

"We're going to end tonight with a fairly simple trick. We thought we'd give you all something to ease your way back outside once the show's through-" She placed her hand on the side of her face with a smirk, "-and to leave you wanting more before we announce our next performance." 

Several cheers sounded throughout the auditorium as Henley took a couple steps back.

"Now I know what you're all thinking. 'Henley, you make being an escape artist look so  _ easy _ .' And it is. Well, now it is. When I was first starting out, it wasn't so easy. But like every great trick, it all comes down to practice. So if you've ever wanted to try it yourself, I'm going to recommend you start with the basics: Handcuffs." 

Henley gave the Horsemen a quick wave. "If I could have two of my lovely teammates help me out with this please." 

Jack and Lula took up the task, each one standing on opposite sides of her. 

"So of course you want to try breaking out of these as many times as you can first. They're the simplest, after all." 

Henley held her hands out, prompting Jack and Lula to click the handcuffs in for her. When she was ready, she flashed a smirk at the audience. 

"But what if your feet are cuffed together too?" 

A set of chains sprang up from the floor and were placed beside her feet. While Jack and Lula bent down to shackle her ankles, Henley continued her monologue. 

"Now if you ever find yourself cuffed in both ways, I recommend trying to undo the feet first. That way, if you're struggling with the hands, at least you can make a quick getaway." 

The audience laughed while Henley bent down on the stage, her shackled hands over her feet. As she fiddled with finding the key in her right shoe, she explained, "The trick here is to hide the key in an easily accessible location on you so the trick can be done as quickly as possible." 

Henley soon pulled out a gold key from her shoe and placed it in the lock beside her ankle. With one twist, she released one foot then shifted to the other, performing the same feat. She stood back up and faced the audience, holding her hands out to them. 

"'But Henley, how can you unlock your hands if the key's so hard to reach?' Well, you don't use the key for the handcuffs." She dropped the key off to the side. "For these bad boys, it's all just a flick of the wrist." 

Henley gave her hands a simple flick, releasing the handcuffs' grip on her and sending them falling at her feet.

The audience applauded for the trick while she made a quick bow. When she stood back up, Henley asked, "So who wants to come up here and try it for themselves?" 

Almost everyone in the crowd stood up to their feet, but LaRue was up first, making him the one to beat. Everything was going according to plan, as Merritt had hypnotized LaRue to be the first to raise his hand. 

Henley pointed at him and called, "You, sir! Come on up!" 

A spotlight was placed on LaRue as he began making his way into the aisle and towards the stage. Once he climbed up the stairs, he stood beside Henley with a small smile. 

"What's your name, sir?" 

"Uh, Greg." 

"Greg, are you ready to try your hand at being an escape artist?" 

"I-I think so." 

"Alright! Let's get you chained up, then." 

As Jack and Lula took to setting LaRue up in the chains, Daniel said to Henley, "Hey, who knows? He might even be good enough to be our newest escape artist in the group." 

"Oh, and replace me? Very funny, Danny. That's really nice." Henley rolled her eyes at the audience which got a laugh out of them. 

Once LaRue was ready, she said, "Okay, Greg. I've left the key by your feet, so I made it a little easy for you. Are you ready?" 

"Ready." 

"Then get to it!" 

LaRue bent down to his feet and picked up the key, fumbling with it in his fingers as he tried to put it in the lock. The pressure was on thanks to the chants from the audience for him to move quickly, but he managed to break his feet out in record time. 

LaRue tossed the key to the side and flicked his wrists, but the handcuffs stayed on. He tried it three more times, but they wouldn't budge from their grip. 

"Hey, uh, I think they're stuck." 

"They are? Huh. That's weird," Merritt said as he shrugged at the audience. 

Henley added, "Well, this little pause in our act gives us the opportunity to tell you the real reason why you're all here tonight." 

Lula made her way to the front of the stage and gestured to LaRue. As she began the Horsemen's spiel, several visual aids played on a screen behind them to elaborate their points.

"See, this man right here is named Greg LaRue. He's got a nice cushy job here in the city at a little place called Wall Street. Maybe you've heard of it." 

"And Mr. LaRue usually does what he's supposed to do," Jack said. He wagged his finger with a head shake. "Not today." 

"See, Mr. LaRue recently pooled into several of  _ your  _ stocks, took the money out of them, and funneled them into his own pocket. All that money you've been investing in and earning over the years-" Daniel snapped his fingers, "-Gone in seconds." 

"Can you believe this guy?" Lula gestured to LaRue. "Robbing millions of people a week before Christmas. Who knows? One of you in this room could have been affected by him. Hell, all of you might have been." 

"But not to worry. Right before the show, we managed to finagle our way into our friend here's account, take the money right back out, and give it back to all of you. I tell you, folks, the Horsemen have pulled off a Christmas miracle for each and every one of you," Merritt explained. 

Henley made her way over to LaRue's side and crossed her arms. "Mr. LaRue, what do you have to say for yourself?" 

A spotlight shone onto LaRue once more, showcasing the sweat treading down his brow. The clamor of angry shouts from the audience made him unable to hear, causing him to stammer out a reply. 

Henley shrugged. "That's what I thought." 

"Well, since we have caught you red-handed, Greg-- Can I call you Greg?--there's only one thing you can do." Lula gave LaRue one of her most terrifying smirks to date. "Run." 

LaRue didn't hesitate, bolting offstage and avoiding the audience members trying to grab at him from their seats. 

Standing together in a line, the Horsemen called out, "We are the Horsemen! Good night!" 

A mix of applause and shouting filled their ears as they ran offstage, setting their sights on the back door that would lead them to freedom. Dylan pushed it open for them and flagged them out, shouting, "Go, go, go!" 

Once the Horsemen were through, he ran behind them and followed them out of the auditorium. The group escaped through a back door that led them to the outside world, the winter air nipping at them the moment they left. 

They then ran through an alley, which was a rather tight pinch, but it fit six people right down to the inch. Their feet slowed down from a gallop to a trot so they could take a moment to pause and celebrate a lot. They let out a cheer and high fived all around, their cries all mingling as a joyful sound.

"I can't believe we did it!" Merritt said. 

Dylan added, "I really didn't think we were going to nab this asshole before the holidays, but we actually did it. Way to go, you guys. I'm proud of you." 

"Come on. Did you really doubt us?" Lula asked. 

"No, no, of course not."

"Liar." 

The group burst into laughter and gave Dylan some playful punches to his shoulder. The only one not celebrating was Jack, who stood at the end of the alley to watch the streets before them. 

"Um, guys?" he called. 

Once the others looked his way, he gave them a two-fingered wave to join his side. The group reached the end of the alley and felt their shoulders sag at what they found. 

There was LaRue on the street, his hands now freed and his face red from panic and shame for his greed. He stood before a woman around his age whose expression on her face was difficult to gauge. LaRue wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in tight, his face buried in her brown hair that fell down just right. There might have been tears in his eyes that fell ever so strong, but it was what happened next that made things go so wrong. 

There was a girl in between them who was no more than eight, her innocent eyes unaware of his fate. A bandanna of pink was tied around her head, so I think you can assume what is trying to be said. LaRue bent down to the girl and spoke to her quiet, hoping his words wouldn't cause a riot. 

The Horsemen watched the scene in shock, their faces growing pale. In all the ways they could have, they hadn't expected to fail. And right when they knew that this moment sucked, Dylan said what they were all thinking. 

"Oh,  _ fuck _ ."

~

"Well, I feel like shit," Merritt said the next day. 

You would think the Horsemen were happy to have gotten their way. In fact, they were miserable after seeing LaRue look so damn upset along with those other people too. So they sat in their hideout and they moped around in pain from the words Dylan said as he tried to explain. 

"And you're sure that's who they are?" Henley asked. 

Dylan sighed as he rubbed his temples. "Yeah, that's what all my information said when I looked into it. It was his wife, Maxine, and daughter, Sydney. Sydney's eight. She's been in and out of hospitals for cancer treatments for several years. Despite his career, LaRue hasn't been doing that great financially. He took all that money in the first place to-" He sighed, "-pay off the medical bills."

"How the hell could we have missed that?" Lula's voice cracked. 

Daniel ran a coin through his fingers as he laid across the couch on his back, saying, "I thought you said you and Thaddeus looked into the situation the other day." 

"We did!" Dylan heard the anger in his tone that seemed to come out whenever Daniel so much as breathed, causing him to take a deep breath to bring himself back down. "We just...looked into the basics, is all. We didn't know the whole story." 

"A-Are we the bad guys now?" Jack asked. 

All eyes turned onto Jack, who sat in a chair at the table with misty eyes. 

Dylan said, "No. Absolutely not. We just made a mistake." 

"But I thought we weren't supposed to make mistakes," Henley said. 

Merritt sighed. "We can only do so much sometimes. I think if Macau taught us anything, it's that we're bound to make mistakes now and then." 

"This is a pretty big mistake, though," Jack said, his voice cracking now as well. 

Lula nodded. "Yeah, I mean, we're supposed to steal money from those who steal it first. But maybe we should start seeing what they're going to do with it first before we jump to conclusions." 

A collective mumbling was uttered by the Horsemen before they fell into silence. 

Daniel said nothing during this time of great grief, as he stared at the ceiling and pondered his life as a thief. You've probably figured it out by now, so I think it's safe to say that Daniel's minuscule heart grew three sizes that day. 

While all of the Horsemen mused on hearts that ached, it was Merritt's next comment that made them all break. 

"God, did we just ruin a kid’s Christmas?" 

"Alright, guys, stop it!" 

Dylan took to his feet and stood in the center of the room, his hand placed over his face as he took a deep breath. Every hopeless pair of eyes in the room turned onto him and waited to hear his words of wisdom. 

"Look, we messed up. I know we did. Sure, our hearts were in the right place, but they should have been helping a different side. It's a complicated situation. We wanted to keep being the Horsemen even at Christmas, which is great. I'm glad you guys have that drive and passion. 

“But I think what this whole mess has taught me is that the Horsemen...aren't always needed. There's a time and place for us, and this...this wasn't it. Now I've thought of something I hadn't thought of before. Maybe Christmas isn't about robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. Maybe, just maybe, Christmas means a little bit more. And maybe we can still fix things."

"How?" Henley choked out. 

"Well, it's still the holiday season. There's plenty of time for miracles to happen. And I've got an idea for a new trick we can do. I'm going to need all of you to chip in, though." 

The Horsemen nodded like mad and gathered around, ready to hear the idea that was abound. They listened with joy as Dylan told them his plan because if anyone can pull it off, the Horsemen can.

~

LaRue and Maxine walked arm in arm into the hospital without a hint of charm. They were defeated, true, and tired as well. The news they would deliver would be hard to tell. 

LaRue stared at the front desk with fear in his eyes, now having to face the truth of his lies. While he took a deep breath, Maxine rubbed her hand over his arm. 

"It's okay," she told him. 

LaRue looked over at her and made a small sigh. "I hope so." 

Taking another breath, the LaRues made their way over to the front desk and leaned against the counter. LaRue cleared his throat, bringing the blonde sitting before a computer to look up at him. 

"Hi, um, I'm Greg LaRue." 

"Oh yes. We spoke about paying Sydney's medical bills." The receptionist turned back to her computer and consulted a file on the screen. 

LaRue looked at the marble counter and saw his hazy reflection staring back at him. He bit his lip before picking his head back up. 

"Actually...about that..." 

"Yup. You're all set, Mr. LaRue. Everything's taken care of." 

LaRue blinked at the receptionist, turning his wide eyes onto Maxine. She wore the same look on her face as she turned to face the receptionist. 

"Wh-What?" 

"The bills are cleared. Someone made an anonymous donation this morning and paid for every last cent." 

The color on the LaRues' faces both faded and returned in seconds. Their faces were stuck in open-mouthed gazes, unable to comprehend their good fortune. 

They were about to say something to the receptionist before a voice called out, "Mom! Dad!" 

The LaRues looked over at the end of the floor to see the person that they were doing this all for. Little Sydney LaRue raced down the hall with glee while a doctor chased after her then panted on bended knee. 

"I tried to stop her, but she was too fast," he said.

Sydney said, "Mom, Dad, you  _ have  _ to see my room!" 

"Why? Wh-what is it?" LaRue asked. 

"Come on! Come on!" 

The LaRues made their way up to Sydney's floor, where she pulled them through the mint green and white halls to her room at the end. Sydney's parents stood in the doorway and gaped at the sight that awaited them inside. 

The hospital room was no longer stark white and bare, as the bed was covered in dolls and stuffed animals of every shape and size. Wrapped presents were scattered on the floor beside it, the paper shining on the walls from the sunlight streaming through the window. 

The only thing LaRue could get out was, "Oh my god." 

"Who did all this?" Maxine asked. 

Sydney rushed over to the presents and held up one of the tags attached to it for her parents. "Santa's elves! That's what all the presents are labeled. A-And they left a note saying that they wanted to give me my presents early! It's Christmas magic!" 

Maxine couldn't help but laugh at Sydney as she cheered and jumped about her room. She hadn't seen her daughter this happy in months. It was a true Chrisrmas miracle. 

LaRue's eyes suddenly began to widen, his lips pursing together. "Magic...Wait!" 

He then ran down the hall in a sprint, causing Maxine to slump her shoulders at him and sigh. "Greg, where are you going?" 

Sydney laughed as her mother ran after him, shaking her head with a smile. She made her way over to her bed and sat on it, picking up one of the dolls and placing it on her lap. She ran her fingers through its hair and brought her head up, a small gasp escaping her mouth. 

Dylan leaned against the doorframe and waved at her with a smile. "Merry Christmas, Sydney." 

Sydney smiled back at him, her eyes glossing over the longer she stared at him. "Thank you." 

Dylan gave her a nod then began to make his way down the hall, tucking his hands into his jacket pocket. And that long walk allowed our fearless leader to think about the joy the Horsemen had provided, and it tickled him pink. Their act wasn't something that they had to appall. They had done the right thing after all. 

For the rest of the season, the Horsemen thought of this trick. It was their greatest one yet, if they were allowed to pick. So remember this tale when you wish to do your part, for true magic happens when you open your heart.


End file.
